The Crusades Unit 6 Topic 2

The Crusades

• Series of wars (1096 - 1291) between Christians and Muslims over control of the Holy Land

• Muslim Turks were fighting the Byzantine Empire 

  • The Byzantine Emperor asks Pope Urban II for help

• Holy Land

  • Jerusalem

  • Israel 

Council of Clermont - 1095

• Granted a plenary indulgence to those who fought to help the Christian Byzantine Empire

• Sending knights overseas would stop the fighting in Europe between Christian kings

Crusader States

• 1099 - Captured Jerusalem

  • Most Crusaders returned home

• Divided captured Muslim lands into 7 kingdoms/dominions

  • Led by crusaders left behind

• Muslims would try to take back the lost land, prompting new crusades

• Outremer

  • Overseas 

Fall of Jerusalem

• 1187 - Jerusalem captured by Muslim forces under Saladin

• 3rd crusade failed to retake the city

  • Saladin allowed pilgrims access to the Holy Land

• 1209 - crusaders forces sack Constantinople on the way to the Holy Land

  • This causes further division between Catholics and Orthodox

• 1291 - Kingdom of Acre falls to Muslim forces

  • Last crusader kingdom

Effects of the Crusades

•  Religious tension - Both Christian and Muslim forces had committed atrocities; Anger sometimes directed at Jews

• Increased trade

  • More trade with the Middle East

  • Ships used to carry crusades became merchant vessels 

• Papal authority increased